Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Hits New 1-Year High Following Analyst Upgrade

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on the stock from $68.00 to $80.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Equity Residential traded as high as $78.78 and last traded at $78.17, with a volume of 42291 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $78.08.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on EQR. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Equity Residential in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $81.00 target price on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Equity Residential from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $62.00 to $83.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Equity Residential from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Equity Residential from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $75.32.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equity Residential

In other news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 6,357 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.08, for a total transaction of $439,141.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 14,576 shares in the company, valued at $1,006,910.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Equity Residential during the 4th quarter worth $49,000. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. acquired a new position in Equity Residential during the 4th quarter valued at about $208,000. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised its position in shares of Equity Residential by 11.8% during the 4th quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 7,856 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $480,000 after buying an additional 830 shares in the last quarter. ING Groep NV raised its position in shares of Equity Residential by 41.8% during the 4th quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 85,907 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $5,254,000 after buying an additional 25,305 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG lifted its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 887,030 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $54,251,000 after acquiring an additional 8,202 shares during the period. 92.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Equity Residential Stock Down 0.1 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $29.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.50, a PEG ratio of 4.27 and a beta of 0.89. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $71.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $67.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.21 and a quick ratio of 0.21.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by ($0.49). The firm had revenue of $734.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $735.26 million. Equity Residential had a net margin of 32.83% and a return on equity of 8.53%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.94 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Equity Residential will post 3.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 1st were issued a $0.675 dividend. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.46%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 1st. Equity Residential’s payout ratio is 112.03%.

Equity Residential Company Profile

Equity Residential is committed to creating communities where people thrive. The Company, a member of the S&P 500, is focused on the acquisition, development and management of residential properties located in and around dynamic cities that attract affluent long-term renters. Equity Residential owns or has investments in 305 properties consisting of 80,683 apartment units, with an established presence in Boston, New York, Washington, DC, Seattle, San Francisco and Southern California, and an expanding presence in Denver, Atlanta, Dallas/Ft.